SOLD – I first acquired this bagpipe around a dozen years ago. It was my first MacDougall purchase. I loved the bagpipe and played it for a little under two years, then sold it on. It had come from the Aberdeen area and was rife with cracks. These were repaired before my refurbishers learned how to do invisible whipping, so the whipping is visible on several pieces. The pipes went to Alaska and its harsh, dry winters, where some more cracking occurred that was invisible whipped. When I bought the pipes back several months ago more cracks had appeared and these were invisible whipped. I daresay nearly every piece has been whipped, but the pipes still play like a dream.

The pipes are ebony, with marine ivory mounts. They came with no blowstick or stock. This blowstick is an old cocuswood Glen, with a parrot-beak bead, but the colour matches the pipes. The blowstick stock is also a cocuswood Glen. The original refurbisher said that the bass top and mid-joint were not original to the pipes, but were made by Duncan MacDougall. Weird. Some ferrules have scribe lines and some don’t. Those with may be replacements, as may be the particularly white ones. However, all drone pieces and most of the stocks are original Duncan MacDougall

The drones are brass-lined — a great contributor to cracking but with a lovely tuning action — and the wider cord guides are typical of Duncan’s work, though these aren’t as wide as some.

This bagpipe supports the belief that when properly fixed, cracks have no effect on the tone of a bagpipe. Pieces rarely need to be replaced.